Flyweight on the Titan's shoulder

The Hanseatic City of Hamburg has made what is probably the most serious cultural-political decision in fifty years: it has appointed the 36-year-old Argentinian-born ballet director and choreographer Demis Volpi to succeed the 83-year-old American and Hamburg honorary citizen John Neumeier. He has been ballet director in the Hanseatic city for five decades. This is more than just a caesura.

No choreographer or ballet director in the entire history of the genre has worked so long and fruitfully in just one place. Neumeier made Hamburg shine as a ballet metropolis worldwide. The Hamburg Ballet even finances the opera across the board. Here – and a little elsewhere as well – Neumeier has let his catalog raisonné, financed by the state for many millions, to which he still holds the rights today, grow to number 160.

He has seen generations of characters come and go. He demanded and got complete independence from the opera, a ballet center with a renowned school and rehearsal rooms, as well as the national youth ballet as a junior troupe.

Neumeier will remain artistic director there, and he will also stay with the Hamburg Ballet for another year until the summer of 2024 to make the transition easier for Volpi. He is still head of ballet at the Deutsche Oper in Düsseldorf. Neumeier is also busy moving his spectacular collection of ballet artifacts. For the Hamburg recently 15 million loosened and bought a villa to set up an institute where Neumeier will also live.

John Neumeier was formed as a dancer in Stuttgart John Crankos before he started in Hamburg in 1973, after a first managerial position from 1969 in Frankfurt. Demis Volpi was also trained at the Cranko School, was resident choreographer there between 2013 and 2017 and has been directing the Ballett am Rhein since 2020.

All great, one would think. Those responsible cheer the “change of generations”, Volpi and Neumeier politely acknowledge each other. In terms of cultural policy, however, there are some question marks.

John Neumeier has sometimes simply sat out his post, because the city is open to blackmail: you don't want to upset the ballet maestro under any circumstances, because otherwise you run the risk of losing the valuable performance rights, which are to be brought into a foundation after his death. They mark the DNA of the Hamburg Ballet. The works must of course continue to be seen on stage, at the same time the company should be led into a new future.

Is Volpi really the right man for this with strength, iron nerves and exceptional creativity? Wouldn't it have been better, for a smoother transition after such (perhaps too long) sole rule, to put an experienced general manager in this position first?

For a few years he could have curated everything that the contemporary dance community has brought to Hamburg that the public has missed for fifty years and tried out which new style suits the Hanseatic city. And all of this in the knowledge that Neumeier will continue to watch over his repertoire with eagle eyes from the background.

This is shown by the fact that his long-standing soloist, trainer and confidant Lloyd Riggins will continue to act as ballet deputy. Neumeier was unable to push him through as his successor in politics.

Demis Volpi, initially a charming storyteller who was particularly successful in Stuttgart with "Krabat", was dismissed as house choreographer there in 2017 because he was not interested enough in the actual dance, it was said.

Since then, however, his portfolio of pieces hasn't really become any more significant. And in Düsseldorf it started in the middle of the pandemic, but the troupe that flourished under Martin Schläpfer is apparently about to sink into insignificance again.

Volpi, who is also a successful opera director, has never worked in a ballet company of international importance. He can usually be seen in three-piece sets with cuddly, nice short-time work. Nothing of him has been shown in Hamburg either.

As an heir, he never becomes dangerous to the titan Neumeier. But will he be able to creatively step out of its shadow? Will the Hamburg Ballet keep its rank?

The luck of Demis Volpi and also that of the new Berlin Ballet Director Christian Spuck, who (also coming from Stuttgart) will perform in the capital in 2023, seems more like that there is unfortunately hardly any competition in this field at the moment. Really original creative dance talents are currently rare.

In Germany, the only other person that comes to mind is Marco Goecke (also partially naturalized in Stuttgart), who is officiating in Hanover. All too many build their pieces together from the same basket of materials.

John Neumeier says meaningfully in the direction of his successor: "I trust that Demis Volpi will keep the Hamburg Ballet and lead this ensemble into the future with a different, a new, but again unmistakable face." become a man of artistic gravitas.